oziexplorer and nz 260 maps « gps « outdoor living

I use OziExplorer to talk to my various GPS receivers from my PC.

An issue I struck recently was getting some high detail (1:50,000) raster maps of the whole of New Zealand for use with OziExplorer. I found a set of NZ 260 Series maps on CD from GeoSystems (NZ 260 Maps on 4x CDs - North & South Island), but wasn't sure that OziExplorer could use the map configuration data that came with the set (OziExplorer uses '.map' files natively, and can import a number of other formats, but the CD set came with '.jgw' and '.tab' files which I didn't think OziExplorer could read). I was assured by a technical staff member from GeoSystems that I'd have no bother, so I placed my order. But he was wrong - (my version of) OziExplorer can not read either '.jgw' or '.tab' files. So I was a bit stuck. So I had to build my own '.map' files. So I thought I'd share them here: NZ 260 Series '.map' files for OziExplorer ('save' this link, rather than 'open' it, 235Kb)

In case anyone is interested, I built these files using the following resources:

the '.jgw' files that came with the CD set
the 260 Map Coordinates from Land Information New Zealand
a '.map file format decoded' page

Please drop me a line if you find any errors in any of my '.map' files - that way I can investigate and update the set for all to use.

FYI: The maps in the GeoSystems CD set have a 'ground sample distance' resolution of 10 metres-per-pixel. If desired, a '5 metres-per-pixel' set can be obtain from TerraLink (for more than ten times the price!). It is also worth noting that the map data in the set is ©2003, so any updates to the NZ 260 Series maps done after 2003 are not going to be on the CDs (I wasn't able to find any better way of determining what 'edition' of the maps had been scanned).